Readers probably saw the article on the front page Wednesday pointing out welfare programs pay more than minimum wage in 35 states.

For those who may not have seen it, some of the findings in a new study released this week by the Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think tank, are simply astounding:

• The government has 126 separate programs to “help” the poor.

• Government-assistance programs for the unemployed pay more than minimum wage in 35 states, and they also pay more than a $15-an-hour job.

• The federal government spends $668.2 billion on these programs annually.

• States give out another $284 billion on similar programs.

• In the U.S., more than 100 million people get some sort of welfare assistance from the federal government.

The article didn’t break out the report’s SNAP figures, but there are more than 47 million people in America on food stamps.

Watching various talking heads discussing this report Wednesday evening on TV, I heard a conservative say, “The Administration doesn’t realize the problems this is going to create down the road. This is totally unsustainable.”

I about choked with laughter.

What this man doesn’t realize – and many others – is this is exactly the Administration’s goals that were set in place shortly after Obama took office in 2009.

It is actually one of the few promises he has kept to the American people – to transform government as we know it.

It’s so simple, yet the results will be devastating to our nation.

Obama knows he has to get as many people as possible on the government dole, one way or another. This “free” stuff is more addicting than drugs and when the overwhelming majority is addicted, they will approve all kinds of new taxes on all the “rich people” and “greedy companies.”

When the majority loses all aspects of self-esteem and living off the government (off the backs of working taxpayers) creates no sense of shame (“everyone is doing it, so why not me?), that’s when the American dream dies. And with it, everything that has made this country special and unique for 237 years.

Here are two notable quotes and an unaccredited variation on the same theme:

• “When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” – Ben Franklin

• “It (Democracy) can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. “ – Alexis de Tocqueville

• “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”

What happens when there are no more rich people or profitable businesses?

Ironically, those who think they can live off the labor of their neighbors will be the first ones shoveled into the graveyard of history’s failed countries.

Look up the history of Russia’s 70-year experiment in socialism and communism. There were literally millions exterminated by the “ruling class” who promised all Russians the “free” life.

Look and what became of the poor people who took over France in the French Revolution. They lived high on the hog – briefly, before they died.

There are more warnings after those quotes above, such as “From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to apathy; from apathy to dependency; and from dependency back to bondage once more.”

Another one is “The majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.”

I wonder if my poverty-stricken grandchildren will one day ask their father, the neighborhood beggar, “Was grandpa one of those people who voted for King Obama?”

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The High Plains Daily Leader and Southwest Daily Times are published Sunday through Friday and reaches homes throughout the Liberal, Kansas retail trade zone. The Leader & Times is the official newspaper of Seward County, USD No. 480, USD No. 483 and the cities of Liberal and Kismet. The Leader & Times is a member of the Liberal Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas Press Association and the Associated Press.

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